Welcome back for Part 2 of Skipping Your Way to Gains, a guide to becoming proficient at string skipping. If you missed Part 1, you can get up to speed here (Skipping Your Way to Gains – Part 1)and gain the ability that you’ll need to tackle the following ideas.

Part 1 focused on spicing up standard ideas with string skipping. It provided useful licks and exercises to whip your string skipping chops into usable shape. Now with Part 2, we dive deeper into unique licks that provide an elusive sound that only string skipping is capable of delivering.

Going Further

All of the examples in this lesson will be rooted in D major. Bear in mind that B minor is the relative minor, so with some exploring and transposition, these licks should give you plenty of fuel to work with in a variety of situations.

Example 1 is a great way to expand your string skipping prowess and build upon Part 1.

Unleash the Insanity

If you’ve taken the time to get this far, then you must be eager to learn some killer licks. Without further ado, here is a smoking lick that shows where you can take the exercises that you’ve been practicing. The picking hand strain is reduced with the use of legato and the quick skips are navigated with hybrid picking. Watch your timing carefully as this is important to gain the full effect of the wide intervallic leaps.

The final example is a great run that highlights a fresh way of moving around the fretboard. It also features some slick legato moves at the top of the lick. Once again, watch your timing as there is a tendency to speed up or slur the notes during the legato portion. Make sure that they are articulated cleanly.

Conclusion

Take your time with these licks. Pulling them off up to speed is tough and requires work. Keep at it though and the benefits will be huge. Not only will your technique grow by leaps and bounds but your knowledge of the fretboard will also increase. For maximum benefit, transpose all of these licks to various keys and be sure to create your own licks using different scale patterns.